Change in Wind
by DrunkenWisdom
Summary: Six years after Yankumi watched her first class graduate, Grandfather passes on and she's forced to make a final decision.to either accept her birthright and save the lives of the people she loves or follow her dream of being a teacher. Shinkumi
1. Chapter 1

Title: Change in the Wind  
Author: El Scribe  
Rating:PG-13  
Spoilers: Not sure yet, cutting to be safe  
Summary:This story is an attempt at making the dorama as it stands eventually conform to the spirit of the manga. In other words, a sequel. Six years after Yankumi watched her first class graduate, her grandfather passes on and she's forced to make a final decision to either accept her birthright or follow her dream of being a teacher. Guilt-ridden at the prospect of destroying the livelihood of the friends who are her family, she determines to become the fourth generation head of the Oeda family. No sooner does she make the decision than Head Teacher throws her a loop that will teach her what dreams are all about.  
Disclaimers: This is a nonprofit, recreational story, using character that I do not claim are my own.

Fight-oh!

Change in the Wind

Chapter One

_Three days ago and three days to go,_ Kumiko thought, moving several large chunks of meat around her plate. The week of mourning was half done. It was so strange to realize that this time last week, her grandfather was sitting at the empty place across the table from her, smiling quietly as Tetsu and Minoru locked chopsticks over a piece of chicken from the hot pot. Did he know, as he sat so calmly, that it would be the last time he would ever eat with them? Could he have known when he went to bed that night that he'd never wake up again? If he did, how could he have still had the same serene smile on his face when Wakamatsu found him cold the next morning?

They'd had hot pot for dinner every night since then. It was one of the many small things Tetsu did to try to bring a smile back to Kumiko's face. He'd even gone overboard on the meat, so that Kumiko wouldn't be disturbed by any fights at the dinner table.

It wasn't working. The quiet click of the chopsticks and the polite murmurs of conversation just seemed to remind her that things were not as they used to be. They never would be again.

She laid her chopsticks next to her plate and placed her hands on the edge of the table, preparing to stand up.

"Oujo, you aren't finished!" Minoru protested, earning an elbow in the gut from Tetsu.

"I've had enough," she said quietly, pushing away from the table and standing up straight. The three men tensed, expecting a tsumani of violence to crash over them for their presumption. But Kumiko just bowed and headed for her room, laying down on her futon fully dressed, even though the sun hadn't set.

The three men exchanged worried looks and silence descended upon the house.

Tetsu cleared his throat. "The week of mourning isn't even over yet. We can't push her too hard to get over, ya know? I mean, with her parents dead and everything, Boss was her last family."

"Sides us" Minoru objected.

"Her last BLOOD family, I meant, idiot." Tetsu corrected, smacking his crony over the back of his round bald head.

Wakamatsu cleared his throat. "That's got some truth, Tetsu," he began cautiously. "But I don't know how much longer we can wait. Some problems can't be iced. Not even for seven days. We all know Boss wasn't just some regular grandpa. We're gonna have some serious problems if we don't get his affairs in order before one of the other families decides to organize them for us."

"We'll take care of it ourselves," Tetsu said firmly. "There ain't no need to bother Oujo with it. She decided a long time ago what road she's gonna take - and this... There's no reason she should have to worry. She's a teacher, not the next family head. That's what she wants to do, and Boss supported that. Business is our problem."

Minoru nodded his head vigorously in agreement.

"I know that as well as you. But there could be problems." Wakamatsu scratched his neck and Tetsu suddenly sat up straighter.

"Problems? What do you mean?"

"Well, as long as we've been part of the Oedo family, it's always been the top dog, right?"

Minoru grinned. "We're the best."

"Exactly. we've always been the best. D'you know why that is?" Wakamatsu didn't wait for a response. "A big part of the reason our family's been so powerful is because the Yakuza respect tradition, and we've been around for three generations - damned near a century of Kuroda bosses calling the shots in this area. Once we break the family line, we go from having the oldest and most respected chain of command to being a first generation family."

Tetsu gulped. "First Generation?"

The term was like a dirty word. First Generation families were nothing - pissants. Complete nobodies grasping for whatever nickel and dime operations they could scrape together. No first generation yakuza boss would ever be taken seriously by the other families. Their status would plummet.

"But we've got territory, manpower, influence," Tetsu sputtered.

"You mean Boss had them." Wakamatsu corrected. "How many of our men do you think would stay loyal to a new head with no more ties to the Kuroda than they have?" He waited for a response. "Exactly. We've got to figure out a way to deal with this without losing everything the Boss spent his whole life trying to build up. And... there's another thing."

"What else could there be after that?" Tetsu asked in a daze.

"Oujo - we know that she doesn't want to be the new head. But can we be sure the other families believe that? The Koru family has always been a true ally of the Oeda, but the Mitzu have really only rolled with us out of fear. You may not remember, since it was before you two were old enough to join up with Oeda, but when Akira Komizuki first took over leadership of the Mitzu he pushed the limits of his territory as far as he could before Boss put him in his place. He's a really ambitious character and I wouldn't put it past him to do something dangerous to make sure that Oeda stays as weak as possible."

"You mean - Oujo?" Minoru gasped. He jumped to his feet with a floor-shaking pound and ran to grab a katana from the wall.

"Sit down, Minoru," Wakamatsu ordered. "Do you want to start a turf war before Boss' body is even cold? But yeah, I'm worried that they might try to do something to Oujo to make sure she doesn't take her place as the family head. Do you really think it's fair for us to keep her in the dark when her life could be in danger? And it's not just her life - it's all of ours. Because I know for damned sure no one's hurtin a hair on her head while any of us three is breathing."

Minoru sat back down with a sorrowful look.

"What're we supposed to do?" He asked pleadingly.

"I don't know, Minoru. But we have to figure it out. And soon."

Kumiko rolled over on her futon and stared at the wall, trying to process what she'd overheard. How could she have been so selfish? In her grief over losing one member of her family, she'd put the rest of it at risk. Was her dream of being a teacher really more important than the lives of the people she loved? She was always telling her students that they had to take responsibility, but she'd spent the last six years doing whatever she wanted without thinking about how it affected others. Maybe it was time she learned her own lesson.

_To Be Continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Change in the Wind  
Author: El Scribe  
Rating:PG-13  
Spoilers: Not sure yet, cutting to be safe  
Summary:This story is an attempt at making the dorama as it stands eventually conform to the spirit of the manga. In other words, a sequel. Six years after Yankumi watched her first class graduate, her grandfather passes on and she's forced to make a final decision to either accept her birthright or follow her dream of being a teacher. Guilt-ridden at the prospect of destroying the livelihood of the friends who are her family, she determines to become the fourth generation head of the Oeda family. No sooner does she make the decision than Head Teacher throws her a loop that will teach her what dreams are all about.  
Disclaimers: This is a nonprofit, recreational story, using character that I do not claim are my own.

Change in Wind

Chapter Two

... And the bus rolled by once again.

Kumiko stood panting with her hands on her knees and shook her head. Perhaps it was for the best. For the first time in a long time she didn't feel any eagerness to get to school.

"Long time no see," said a lilting voice, as a short buzz signaled the stop of a well-maintained bicycle beside her.

"Morning, Shinohara-sensei," Kumiko said through a yawn, standing upright and stretching her back a bit to soothe the kink she'd gotten for bending down. "As you can see, not much has changed."

Shinohara smiled serenely. He was always amused by the consistency of Kumiko's unpredictability. It was one of the things he liked most about her. Although at times it could be maddening to a man who wanted to know where he stood with her. There were days when she seemed just about ready to jump into his arms – actually, there had been a couple of times when she literally _did _just that. And then there were days like today where she seemed to barely register his presence. It was alright, though. He could wait. It had been six years; he was used to it by now.

"Well, I guess I should get to school," groaned Kumiko, confirming his thoughts.

Ordinarily, he would just let her go if she was being distant; it usually meant she was busy with some passionate project. But this was the first time he'd seen her in a week (the longest he'd gone without running into her since the year he and Kashiwagi had been reassigned to the worst precinct in Japan as punishment for associating with a yakuza family) and he didn't want to say goodbye quite this soon.

"Been busy, I take it?" he asked with a smile in his voice. Usually that teasing tone brought a tinge of red to her cheeks. Not today.

"Yes," she said abruptly. Then she blinked and realized how curt she'd sounded. She shook her head in self-reproach. Shinohara-sensei hadn't done anything wrong; there was no reason to take things out on him. She continued more gently. "We just finished the seven-day mourning for my grandfather. He passed on last week."

_Shinohara Tomoya, you're the biggest jerk in Japan. _The police officer debated pedaling his bike right on into the Sumida River. "I'm so sorry," he said with real regret in his voice.

Kumiko heard it, and believed him. It warmed her heart just a little bit to know that he really cared. On another day such a proof of affection would've lifted her to cloud nine and had her speculating about wedding proposals and first dates – not necessarily in that order. But she just didn't have it in her today.

"Thank you," she said simply, and smiled at him.

Shinohara felt his heart clench. A real smile from Yamaguchi Kumiko was as beautiful as it was rare. Sometimes he thought that Kumiko was so busy being passionate that she didn't get to be happy. But he'd never seen her smile like this before – so genuinely and so sadly. There weren't tears in her eyes, but somehow he felt like he was looking into a fragile pond that could ripple at the slightest touch.

He cleared his throat. "Do you want a ride?"

She hesitated. "No, thanks. I'm not really in such a hurry today."

Shinohara felt his heart sink, and then despised himself for being so selfish. How could he be thinking about having her arms around his waist when she was grieving?

"Alright, if you're sure. If you change your mind down the road, give a shout and I'll turn back."

"Okay, have a good day at work," she replied. She waved at him as he rode away, shouting "Watch your back!"as an afterthought.

The front tire of Shinohara's bicycle swerved, but it was worth it. He wouldn't want her to be hurt by the laughter he was holding in.

"Ya-Ya-Yankumi!" howled a wolfish voice, followed by a chorus of whistles and cat calls.

Yankumi scowled. This year's 3-D was a pack of lechers. But at least they came to class now.

She still remembered the first day of the semester when she'd tried everything to get them to sit in their chairs. She'd given inspirational speeches, joined in on their bawdy conversations, threatened, intimidated, joked, stalked. She even punched a hole straight through one particularly loud-mouthed student's desk, and not one boy paused in his conversation to look at the damage. At the time she'd thought they were going to be her most difficult class ever. Nothing that had ever worked before had even the slightest impact on these kids.

As a last resort, she started to consider a talk she'd had with Fujiyama-sensei their first week of teaching at Shiroken (as Arata High School was called back when Kumiko and Fujiyama-sensei started teaching there, before the school was sold and closed for a year for renovations by the new owners). They'd been discussing Fujiyama's habit of wearing provocative clothing to work, and Fujiyama had sworn that there was no better way to control male students than appealing to their enormous sex-drives.

At the time, Yankumi had written the idea off as underhanded, but after two months rolled by without any progress at all, she was willing to try anything. Knowing their terrible taste, Kumiko had ordered Tetsu, Minoru and Wakamatsu to go out and buy her an outfit to teach in. Overjoyed that she'd given them such a trust, they'd gone all-out, returning home with manufacturer's boxes full of designer clothing that looked suspiciously as if it hadn't ever made it to the retail store it was addressed to.

They hadn't let her down. The next morning - after spending half an hour in the bathroom curled up into a little ball, clutching a pom-pom and shuddering at the memory of the last time she'd tried to look appealing at school - Kumiko had set off to work. No sooner had she opened the door when a silence descended upon the unruly class. She could almost hear a zoom as the boys' eyes went from the curve of her ankles as displayed to advantage by three inch black pumps, to her dark-stockinged legs, lingering at her skintight Italian leather miniskirt and getting so stuck on the crisp, sleeveless white linen blouse that showed the delicate outline of her expensive lace bra that she might as well have left her hair in pigtails and saved her makeup.

From that day forward, she never had a problem with her class again. All she had to do was wear skirts and they were all present every day, rain or shine, sick or well. Fujiyama-sensei still hadn't stopped gloating.

_I am a teacher and I'll do anything for my students_, she reminded herself between gritted teeth, longing for her jersey and sneakers as she lost balance on her high-heeled shoes and did a face dive into a shrub.

"Yes! I think I saw something!" one of them triumphed, pumping his fist in the air as his classmates pounded his back.

"Tsuruga!" she growled, rising up from the shrub like a flaming demon and somehow towering over her six foot student without growing an inch above her usual five-foot-three.

"Run!" Shouted Matsumoto, the wisest of her students, and the gang of boys fled in all directions (except towards the classroom) leaving their buddy to his fate.

She stalked forward, her fingers itching to grab the ears of the wayward Tsuruga, when a tap on her shoulder turned her around. She forced her battle face into a somehow more frightening smile as she faced Sawatari-sensei, the principal of Arata High, and unfortunately her boss.

"Yes, sensei?" She asked politely.

Sawatari narrowed his eyes. From Yamaguchi-sensei, politeness sounded more insulting than curses.

"You're back, I see." He couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice. "Well, I suppose it would be too much to ask that you attend a staff meeting on your first day back after your little vacation."

Kumiko gritted her teeth. "Vaca--" she closed her eyes and counted to ten. "I was just on my way, Principal. Some of my students needed a little discipline." She shot a whip-glance at Tsuruga who was starting to look more turned on than scared, now that the principal was on the scene and he knew he was safe from bodily harm.

"Yeah, I've been a _very _bad boy," he cooed, pouting his lips. "I think I'll need a sp--"

Yankumi raised her fist and Tsuruga went running for his life.

"Yamaguchi-sensei," the principal sighed, shaking his head back and forth in weary disapproval. "Every year you come up with some new teaching method to degrade our noble profession. Last year it was organizing a pro-wrestling team and participating yourself, the year before it was gambling on who can go the longest without cigarettes, before that it was..."

"I've always done whatever it takes to reach my students," Yankumi stated, completely without remorse. "If I have to body slam them, sweet talk them, whatever it is, if it's ethical, I'll do it."

"Well, we always did have different definitions of the word ethical."

"_Very," _she agreed, following the path of his eyes to the opening of her blouse.

Sawatari coughed awkwardly. "Yes, well. Hopefully this will be your last experiment in extreme teaching and next year you can try something completely off the wall – like normal lectures and classroom discipline.

"I... I really don't think so, principal."

Sawatari raised his eyebrows at the uncharacteristic hesitation in her voice. "Wh-"

"Do you have a minute? In your office – I have some business matters to discuss.

"Yes - a minute. I'm very busy, you know."

And he followed her up the stairs to the principal's office with a very bad feeling trailing behind him.

To Be Continued

Notes:

As you can see, this chapter attempts to neutralize the damage of the horrifying second season of Gokusen by explaining all of the inexplicable absences. It's still a couple more chapters before Shin hits the scene, but he's coming.

Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Change in the Wind  
Author: El Scribe  
Rating:PG-13  
Spoilers: Not sure yet, cutting to be safe  
Summary:This story is an attempt at making the dorama as it stands eventually conform to the spirit of the manga. In other words, a sequel. Six years after Yankumi watched her first class graduate, her grandfather passes on and she's forced to make a final decision to either accept her birthright or follow her dream of being a teacher. Guilt-ridden at the prospect of destroying the livelihood of the friends who are her family, she determines to become the fourth generation head of the Oeda family. No sooner does she make the decision than Head Teacher throws her a loop that will teach her what dreams are all about.  
Disclaimers: This is a nonprofit, recreational story, using character that I do not claim are my own.

Change in Wind

Chapter Three

"Oh, really." Sawatari's lip twitched in agitation. "So what you're saying that you're going to resign your teaching post after graduation. Is that right?"

"Yes, sir," Kumiko sighed, exhaustedly. This was the twelfth time she'd confirmed her intentions to the principal.

"_This _graduation?"

"Yes."

"The one three months from today?"

"There's only the one, isn't there?"

"And you don't ever want to come back?"

"It's not a matter of not _wanting _to-" she began. Sawatari waved away her explanation.

"But whether or not you want to you aren't _going _to come back. Correct?"

Kumiko opened her mouth to answer.

"Is that correct or is that not correct, Yamaguchi-sensei?" he demanded in a shrill, high pitched voice.

"Yes! I mean, no. I mean it's correct." She shifted in her seat for the tenth time and looked at the clock over the principal's door. Homeroom was almost over. Heaven only knew whether she'd have a classroom when she got back. Her students had rioted before - three times during the week of her absence, word had it. Once the police had been called. A boy named Kuniyoshi who was usually relatively quiet for a 3-D student had been dragged out by three officers in full riot gear, swinging a fire extinguisher and screaming "They can't keep us apart!" over and over.

All of a sudden Sawatari let out a shuddering sigh and tears streamed down his face.

Kumiko was touched to see his emotional reaction. It almost made up for all of the times he'd done his best to get her and all of her students banned from the school. She smiled and reached out a hand to touch his shoulder.

He shook it off at once and wiped his face. "You aren't... You aren't teasing me, are you?" He hiccuped.

Yankumi's smile melted like an ice sculpture at Satan's wedding. She could feel her face growing hot as angry blood rushed to her head.

"No," she spat, through gritted teeth.

Sawatari closed his eyes and when he opened them they were literally glowing with pleasure. She could almost see stars in the center of his pupils. He sat up and adjusted the lapels of his suit.

"Well, we'll be sorry to lose you, of course," he said, grinning. "I suppose I'll have to start looking for a replacement as soon as possible. My, I don't know where to begin." He turned to the bookshelf behind his desk and pulled out a black three-ring binder with a colorful cover that had _Replacements for Yamaguchi _written in elaborately Photoshopped lettering. From the discoloration at the edges of the folder, she could see it was well-worn.

Yamaguchi clenched her fists and took another deep breath. She opened her purse, routed out a letter, placed it on the principal's desk and left, bowing infinitesimally before she walked through the door. She could still hear chuckles behind her as she headed down the hall.

_It could've been worse_, she told herself, as she reached her homeroom. She paused to straighten her hair and pull the hem of her skirt down as far as it would go. _I might as well make the most of my teaching days while they last._

Except for Kuniyoshi, who was on his knees sniffing the seat of her chair again, the entire class was peacefully assembled around Tsuruga's desk. _They must've found some porn, _she deduced, kicking Kuniyoshi out of her way and dropping her purse onto her desk. She strolled casually down the aisle with both hands folded behind her back and peered through the mountain of shoulders and backs to get a glance at the laptop screen.

A gaudy orange banner was scrolling across the top of the monitor announcing "Yankumi Gone Wild" with a long stream of exclamation points trailing after. The site was a collection of obviously edited videos that featured her face cropped over the body of a topless woman, pointing out figures on a blackboard while she giggled and jiggled. Yankumi looked down at her own body, and then at the images on the screen. Despite herself, her first thought was:_ Well, that's one thing this class beats my first one at . Obviously fake, but at least they scaled the face to the body._

Then the anger took over. In three seconds she had all of the boys writhing and groaning on the classroom floor – and it definitely wasn't with pleasure. She sauntered back to the front of the room and, picking up her ledger daintily, she proceeded to take a body count for attendance.

"Seeeeeeeeend in the first applicant," Sawatari sang, twirling a pencil around his fingers. He took a cursory glance at the resume in front of him, his eyes skipping over the criminal convictions and obviously fabricated university credentials. "_Udontspyk English Acadamy?" They didn't even spell Academy right._ But that did little to dampen his mood. Nobody could be worse for the school's reputation and his own peace of mind than Yamaguchi Kumiko.

"Gordon Gaijin?" He asked, poking his head through the door to the waiting room. He was getting a little impatient that the interviewee still hadn't appeared.

"Gordon had to leave," said a suave voice. "He got a bit tied up."

The principal's eyes trailed up from a pair of glossy, obviously expensive shoes to take in the creases of an exceptionally well-tailored suit. The stranger was leaning against the wall next to his office door, so Sawatari couldn't see his face but whoever he was, he had the air of someone well-cultured and important. Perhaps a student's parent?

"Good afternoon," Sawatari greeted, standing up straight and opening the door properly. He held out his hand. "I'm Sawatari-sensei, principal of Arata Senior High, and you are..."

"Your new teacher," the man replied cooly, turning to face the horrified administrator. He shoved a resume into the principal's chest and headed towards the door.

"I can start whenever," he called over his shoulder, as an afterthought.

Sawatari stood alone in the waiting room, surrounded by overturned chairs and reams of shredded paper, his mouth gaping. The sound of the slamming door echoed all around him.

Notes:

Sorry for the typos that keep cropping up, I usually write these on my fifteen minute breaks at work and get a bit distracted. I kind of played with semantics because TECHNICALLY the name Sawada Shin does not appear in this chapter. Of course he'll figure prominently in the next. Once I have the story finished, I'll go back and expand and edit the previous chapters to make them run smoother, but I'm realistic enough to know that if I stop and go back in depth I'm going to lose momentum. There'll be time enough in the future, eh?


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Change in the Wind  
Author: El Scribe  
Rating:PG-13  
Spoilers: Not sure yet, cutting to be safe  
Summary:This story is an attempt at making the dorama as it stands eventually conform to the spirit of the manga. In other words, a sequel. Six years after Yankumi watched her first class graduate, her grandfather passes on and she's forced to make a final decision to either accept her birthright or follow her dream of being a teacher. Guilt-ridden at the prospect of destroying the livelihood of the friends who are her family, she determines to become the fourth generation head of the Oeda family. No sooner does she make the decision than Head Teacher throws her a loop that will teach her what dreams are all about.  
Disclaimers: This is a nonprofit, recreational story, using character that I do not claim are my own.

Change in Wind

Chapter Four

"Welcome home, Ojou!" chorused three voices. The two live-in members of the Oeda Family scurried to the front door like puppies racing to meet their master.

"I'm home." Kumiko tried to make her reply sound as enthusiastic as their greeting, but failed miserably.

Tetsu's smile wavered but stayed in firmly in place. Minoru's shoulders slumped.

"I made a special dinner to celebrate your first day back at school," Tetsu continued, with determined cheerfulness.

_Please not hotpot again, _Kumiko winced. She'd never thought there would come a time when she'd be sick of her favorite dish.

"It's fish!" Tetsu announced proudly, not picking up on her hesitation. That brought forth a genuine smile from Kumiko.

"That sounds great!"

Tetsu blushed and felt his pulse pounding painfully, as if a tiny cupid was practicing high kicks on his neck. "Yes!" he replied and backed into the hallway so she could enter.

"How was school, Ojou?" Minoru asked, plopping down at his place in the dining room. Even though dinner had yet to be served, he pulled a pair of chopsticks out of its sleeve and broke it in preparation. The movement drew Kumiko's attention to his left hand, which was heavily bandaged. Kumiko felt a cold pang in her chest.

"What happened to your hand, Minoru?" Her tone was a mixture of worry and command that terrified the large man. He looked to Tetsu for help.

"He got it jammed in a door, the clumsy doof," Tetsu replied, rearranging the place settings.

"In what door? Ours are lightweight sliders; they wouldn't do that to a hand," she cross-examined.

"I think it was the front door," Tetsu explained quickly. "Wakamatsu is eating at home today. It's his daughter's birthday. So we won't need his forks and things." He hurriedly picked up the dishes and carried them into the kitchen.

Kumiko narrowed her eyes at Minoru. "Tell me what really happened."

Minoru gulped and looked around frantically, seeking any cue for a believable story. Imagination had never been his strong point, but Tetsu had said that if they loved Ojou they should protect her from any more stress.

"I... I... I was going in the front door and... and the wind blew all of a sudden and slammed it really hard on my arm." He finally managed.

"The wind." Kumiko eyed him sceptically. "You're saying the wind blew hard enough to slam the door and that injured you hand so badly it had to be bandaged by a doctor?" She could tell from the neatness of the wrapping that none of the Oedo men had been handling the first aid.

A sheen of sweat broke out on Minoru's bald head.

"I... that's..."

Kumiko folded her arms across her chest and leaned back, eying the large man without expression. Minoru broke under the pressure.

"We were doing the rounds and ran into some trouble, is all." He leaned forward and spoke softly in hopes that Tetsu wouldn't over hear. When it came to his ojou, however, Tetsu had superhuman senses.

"You moron! I told you not to worry her!" In a flaming flash, Tetsu was back in the room, a trail of smoke almost visible behind him. Kumiko coughed quietly and the infuriated man froze in place.

"Conspiring to keep things from me, Tetsu?"

The yakuza member shriveled up in dread. "B-b-b... I was just... I was... I can explain!"

"It sounds to me like you were withholding Oeda family business from the 4th Generation family head. Does that seem like a good idea to you?"

"No, I mean sorry." Tetsu started bowing profusely, terrified by Kumiko's uncharacteristic calm. "It was only that we didn't want-"

"4th Generation head?" Inquired a new voice. Three faces swiveled to view the tall, imposing figure that was dwarfing the doorway. A broad, kimono'd man stood there with each of his hands resting on the bicep of the opposite arm and a sardonic look on his face.

"Kyo-san?!" Kumiko was up on her feet and across the room before she could finish her short sentence. Her small arms wrapped around the wide frame of the man in front of her and he reached down, smiling to pat her head.

"How now, Ojou? What's all this about the 4th Generation Head? The last I head on the matter, Oeda doesn't have a head right now."

"A body can't live without a head." Kumiko spoke to the older man's chest.

"That's true. We're about due for a transplant."

"They say that family members are the best donors in such cases."

"Ojou...?" Tetsu's mouth fell open.

"Mmmm," Kyo grunted, approvingly. "Well, then, _Boss_. I'm here to report after my long absence."

Kumiko beamed, the momentary cloud that had descended upon her while sealing her decision to accept her birthright now cleared. She was overcome with curiosity to know how her friend and mentor had been getting on for the last ten years.

"Well, as you know, I had to leave Japan pretty suddenly after that sleazebucket canary sang to the cops about my involvement in the Sinoma job. I hopped a boat to Taiwan and I've spent the last several years building on some connections I have there. My cousin Oto has been deep into the Sung-kim family since before Ojou was born, so there was much work to be had. Actually, I ended up doing a major favor for the head, Sung Jae-in, and it became necessary for me to leave Taiwan in a similar hurry to my escape from Japan. It all worked out for the best, though. I wouldn't have taken the job if I hadn't known that the statute of limitations on the Sinoma job was gonna be running out this week. It's actually pretty convenient. In another ten years, when I get chased down again, maybe I can see what crimes there are to commit in Korea!" He ended his story with a deep belly laugh.

Kumiko's face split into a huge grin. Kyo-san hadn't changed.

Tetsu was still trying to process what had happened. "Wait wait wait!" he yelled, causing all eyes to turn on him, questioningly. He lowered his voice. "Ojou- do you mean to say that you're giving up on teaching?"

"Yes." She didn't raise her eyes, but her voice was quiet and firm.

"After all of your work? All you've had to go through to be accepted in your job?" Tetsu couldn't process this sudden change of gears. "I thought this was your dream?"

Kumiko turned her back and looked out the doorway, into the moonlit courtyard. "There's a time to dream, Tetsu." She closed her eyes and leaned her head on the doorpost. "And there's a time to wake up." She pushed against the doorway and straightened her spine. Her shoulders squared as she turned around, and there was no doubting the resolve in her expression.

"The time for dreaming is over. I am what I was meant to be – the head of the Oedo family."

To be continued


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Change in the Wind

Author: El Scribe

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Not sure yet, cutting to be safe.

Summary:This story is an attempt at making the dorama as it stands eventually conform to the spirit of

the manga. In other words, a sequel. Six years after Yankumi watched her first class graduate, her grandfather passes on and she's forced to make a final decision to either accept her birthright or follow

her dream of being a teacher. Guilt-ridden at the prospect of destroying the livelihood of the friends who are her family, she determines to become the fourth generation head of the Oeda family. No sooner does she make the decision than Head Teacher throws her a loop that will teach her what dreams are all about.

Disclaimers: This is a nonprofit, recreational story, using character that I do

not claim are my own.

Note: Apologies for the extended delay - things got a bit nutty at work. Things should be on track again

now.

Fight-oh!

Change in the Wind

Chapter Five

"So if x is equal to 1 and y is equal to 4, then z must equal..." Yankumi turned around to scan her students. As usual, they were all seated neatly in their desks with their hands folded in front of them, looks of rapt attention fixed on their faces.

"Who would like to come up and solve the equation?" She dangled a piece of chalk between her fingers

There was a crash as desks turned over and a vicious brawl broke out over who would be able to show off for Yankumi. Kuniyoshi let out a subhuman growl and launched himself off of his desk in an attempt to dive over the backs of his classmates. A moment later, he slammed into the ground with a sick thud, as Tsuruga grabbed his ankle and ripped him out of the air.

"She's miiiiiiine!" Kuniyoshi moaned into the scuffed linoleum as the battle continued around him.

Yankumi shook her head. She calmly stepped out of her powder pink pumps and launched at Tsuruga with a high powered kick. The air rushing by her as she flew towards her target caused the pleated skirt she wore to billow up to her waist and as one, all of the students that were still standing passed out with nose bleeds. Tsuruga smiled happily when her foot connected with his chin,knocking him, unconscious, to the ground.

"You enjoyed that," observed a voice from the doorway.

Yankumi's back stiffened and she balled up her fist. How dare some stranger imply that she'd actually liked disciplining her class? They were out of control, and sometimes that required strong measures. It's not like she was using her students to work out her personal frustrations... She couldn't have known that they'd react that way to a chance to solve a simple math problem. No, it was ridiculous. And how dare some stranger presume that he knew how she felt!

She swung around, fist poised for attack, but she froze in place the moment her eyes met those of the man who leaned so casually against the door jam. There was only one person who had ever felt so at home in her classroom, as if it belonged to him, and not her The hair was different but... It couldn't be him. It was impossible that it was anyone else. There was only one smirk like that in Japan.

"Sawada?" she asked, non-plussed.

"Sawada Shin," the man affirmed, with a bow so graceful it could have been choreographed for a modern dance recital.

The one student from her first year that had not kept in touch. The only one who hadn't sent a postcard or stopped by to visit, or called her from a police station at two in the morning, desperate for bail. Sawada Shin, onetime leader of class 3D. The student who had taught her how to teach.

She walked slowly up to him and with each step she felt the silky fabric of her pantyhose slide against the cold tiles beneath her feet. Sawada tilted his head to rest against the doorway as she reached him. She looked down at her hand, still balled into a fist, and then into his mocking, unreadable eyes. Then she punched him in the stomach, as hard as she could.

"Six _years_," she spat out, as he doubled over in pain.

"Same... Yankumi..." Shin grunted, his hair falling down to cover his face. He pulled himself upright,and if there had been any expression on his face in the moments he spent gazing at the floor, it was gone now. All that remained was the smooth, amused look that had always been his mask. "I was worried you'd turned into a woman, when I saw your new look."

Yankumi glanced down at her low cut tank top and blushed. As so often was the case, her embarrassment turned swiftly into anger. "I haven't turned into anything. I'm still a teacher – _your_ teacher – and I can still teach you a lesson if you step out of line."

"That's not what I heard," Shin replied carelessly – fearlessly, considering the steam that had started to spout from Yankumi's ears. "I didn't come here to reminisce. I just wanted to check out my new classroom. Sawatori just signed the hiring papers. According to him, in three months you won't be anyone's teacher."

With that, he shrugged and sauntered out of the classroom, leaving Yankumi frozen in place. She opened her mouth to respond, but as she did the bell rang and students started rushing down the hallway. In an instant she was surrounded by her students, who had limped forward in distress at the news of her possible retirement. But for once, she didn't know what to say to her class.

Shin deftly maneuvered his way through the throng of rushing students, and turned automatically down the turns that would lead him towards the roof. Without thinking, he opened the door and ascended the stairs. Blinking at the sudden daylight, he once more viewed the place where he'd spent most of his school hours – even more than in the classroom, until his last year. While the rest of the building had changed over the years, not one cubist painting or student mural had been added here. He sat down gingerly on the old bench that still had his name carved into the seat, and laid down full-length to look up at the sky.

His bruised stomach muscles protested as he stretched, and he lifted the bottom of his shirt to survey the damage. Right above his navel, a deep purple splotch was already forming. Somehow, she had landed it so that her fingers had impacted at two separate points, with the rest of her hand landing just below. The three bruises were so close together, that as he watched, the swelling from each blended together, leaving a mark that resembled nothing so much as a purple heart.

"Same old Yankumi," he said again, touching the spot. This time his hair was not in his face.


End file.
